They were already arguing when they came through the door. Lorne could do nothing but stare.
“We need to find Dru,” Xander insisted. “You know how dangerous she is!”
“If she’s even still alive,” Giles answered. “Besides, Dru was in league with du Plessis. He is the immediate threat.”
Gretchen was anxious to take Xander’s side. “If we find Dru, we can probably find Spike. Two for one.”
“I’m not doing anything until I find out what happened back there!” Faith shouted. “Why’d the council blow the building with us in it?”
“The council absolutely did not destroy that building!” Giles shouted. “We would never blow up a building, especially in a populated area!”
“Then who, Giles?” Faith shouted. “Then who?!”
Dawn came through the door, supporting Connor who limped in with her.
Lorne gave a slight cry of outrage at seeing the boy’s beaten up state, complete with cuts, bruises, and naked rib bones. “Of for the love of Freddy Krueger. That’s just excessive!”
Lorne ran to Dawn’s side and helped her move Connor to a couch. “I’ll get some bandages.”
Faith sighed, watching the scene. “Look, we all want different stuff done, so this is how it’ll be. Giles, start trying to track down du Plessis. Xander and Gretchen, get a hold of Buffy and Riley and find out who’s bombing Wolfram & Hart. Dawn, you play nursemaid to Connor. You can thank me later. Lorne, you’re coming with me to find Spike and Dru, provided they’re not ashes.”
Faith waved her hand toward Xander, Gretchen, Dawn, and Connor. “You all can thank me later or name your children after me or whatever.”
Xander and Dawn blushed, Gretchen chuckled, and Connor just looked at Faith with a confused expression.
“Alright Green Jeans,” Faith said. “We’re rolling.”
**
“Giles told them that, Buff,” Xander said on the phone. “But with other things she’s been kept out of the loop on, Faith’s starting to imagine things?”
Xander nodded. “Okay.” He hung up and looked at Gretchen. “Buffy’s sending Riley to look at the Initiative junk we have and pick up Eve.”
Two rooms over, Dawn was finishing dressing Connor’s wounds. “You don’t have to do that, you know,” Connor said. “It’ll heal on its own.”
“I want to at least cover the ribs. Keep it safe from infection. Besides, seeing someone’s bare rib bones is just . . . gross.”
“Sorry.” Connor looked down. “I didn’t mean to be gross.”
Dawn sighed. “Unfortunately, this unpleasantness is just a precursor to more unpleasant unpleasantness.”
“I know what we have do next,” Connor said bitterly.
“Okay, then,” Dawn said quietly. “Then let’s get to it.”
***
“To tell the truth, I kind of wished the kid wasn’t on the DL,” Faith said as they looked around the collapsed building. “No offence.”
“DL?” Lorne asked. “Down low?”
“Disabled list,” Faith answered.
“Oh. Sports slang. Well, when it comes to bloodhound work, I’m hardly your guy.”
“With the underground contacts, you’re the next best thing.”
“Speaking of underground,” Lorne said, nodding toward a sewer grate. “If Spike did get out of there . . .”
“Why is it I have to go running through a sewer at least once a weak?” Faith griped as she flipped off the grate.
Lorne held his nose as he slid into the sewer behind her. “You think you have it hard going through sewers? This suit is Armani.” He shuddered.
“Is there something down here?” Faith asked, noticing the demon’s reaction.
“Probably,” Lorne smiled. “But it’s not that. I was just thinking that the last time I was in these sewers, I was running from a demonic hell god.”
Faith flicked on a flashlight and shined it around. “See anything? Scraps of a leather jacket? Peroxide stains on the wall?”
Lorne shook his head.
“So, the singing earlier. With the kid. What was that about?”
Lorne frowned. He didn’t really want to go into deep detail on this. “It’s part of Connor’s therapy.”
“I thought his therapy was that thing with the crystal.”
“That’s to drain out the ick from Quar’Toth. But there’s also been serious psychological trauma in his life. So Little Miss Red Witch is working his recovery on the mojo end and the psychiatry end.”
Lorne turned suddenly. “Did you hear that?”
“What?”
“Splashing,” Lorne answered.
“Um, Lorne . . . we’re in a sewer.”
Lorne saw it. Three ripples running threw the low water. Whatever they were, they were small enough to be completely obscured by the inch and a half of water on the ground.
“Faith,” Lorne said nervously. “We could use some of that slayer-action ass whooping about now. Please.”
****
Dawn placed the crystal on the table. It was large, blue, and nearly clear. “Grounding stone.”
“I know what it is,” Connor said anxiously as he looked down.
“Are you ready?”
“I . . . I hate this. Are you sure we can’t just . . . I don’t know. Talk or something.”
“I know this is difficult,” Dawn said patiently. “Willow says you’ve improved tremendously. She also says you’re really, really brave.”
Connor smiled shyly at the compliment. Other than Fred, Willow was probably the closest he’d come to a mother. Connor had disliked her at first. But eventually, that had changed dramatically.
“Can you see the flaw in the center?” Dawn asked.
“Yeah,” Connor said.
“Concentrate on the flaw.”
*****
Faith and Lorne were covered with slime when they walked into the lobby. Faith was holding Lorne’s jacket, which was squirmed wildly in her hands.
“Can someone get me a jar or something?” Faith shouted.
“What is it?” Gretchen asked, reaching blindly for one of the jars behind the desk. Her fingertips pushed it off balance but her hand didn’t close in time. The jar fell to the floor and shattered.
“Can someone else get me a jar or something?!” Faith shouted.
Xander grabbed another jar and ran to Faith. He opened it and held it under Lorne’s jacket so Faith could easily deposit its contents in the jar.
“On three,” Faith said. Suddenly, the jacket jerked and got away from her. “Three!” she shouted immediately.
The jacket hit the floor and small, pinkish-grey, reptilian creature scrambled out from the jacket on many legs. Xander dove and slammed the jar down over the creature. He let out a sigh when he realized the glass had not shattered. His eyes went wide. “Is that-”
“Two dead, one captured,” Lorne said proudly. “And my Armani suit jacket played an integral role.”
“Willow wanted one,” Faith said. “So I got one. The Beezack or whatever.”
“Bezoar,” Xander said as he quickly slid the lid under the jar. “Like the one we pulled off Buffy last year. Willow said she couldn’t figure out how du Plessis was controlling them from the dead one.” Xander’s eyes lit up. “Call Giles,” he said as he struggled to cap the lid on the jar. He looked at its frantically squirming contents. “I think I know how we might be able to find du Plessis.”
“I gotta get a shower,” Faith said as she headed away. “How’s Dawn doing patching up Connor?”
Lorne tried to grip Faith’s arm before she opened the door to the makeshift infirmary. Faith wasn’t quite sure what he was doing. She glanced back at him before turning forward to see Connor and Dawn in the infirmary.
Connor was crying. “The rain’s burning my face,” he whimpered while hyperventilating. He sat shirtless with bandages covering his ribs. His eyes were focused on the blue crystal in front of him. “Please. Please just let me go. I can’t get loose. He tied the knots too tight.”
Dawn cast an angry glance at Lorne, then looked back to Connor. “Connor, you’re not the little boy tied to the tree,” she said in a soft and supportive voice. “You’re grown, like you are now. You’re standing near the tree holding a sword, watching the boy struggle.”
“I’m tied to the tree,” Connor sobbed. “It’s too late. The branch is already in my stomach. It’s planting seeds.”
“You’re not tied to the tree. You’re standing nearby looking at the boy tied to the tree.”
Connor sniffled and nodded. “Okay.”
“What do you want to do, Connor?”
“I want to help the boy.”
“Then do that,” Dawn said. “Help the boy.”
Connor stared at the crystal motionlessly. His body seemed to twitch a couple times.
“Come on,” Lorne whispered. “We shouldn’t be here when he snaps out of it.”
“What’s going on?” Faith asked Lorne quietly.
Connor’s eyes, which were glazed over, suddenly focused. He inhaled, looking surprised like a boy who awakes from a dream and is shocked to find himself in his own bed. He turned and looked at Lorne and Faith.
“They watched?” Connor asked angrily.
“No,” Dawn said. “They just got here.”
“Yeah,” Faith pitched in quickly. “We might have found a lead on Spike and wondered if you were up for some tracking work, even if you’re not ready for fighting. Why? What was going on in here? You two making out or something?”
Connor jumped back away from Dawn and began stammering. “What, um, no,” he said, looking flustered. “She was just showing me her crystal.”
“Her crystal?” Faith grinned. “Is that what girls call it these days?” She held up a hand before Connor could babble any more. “I’m kidding. But on the tracking thing, you up for it?”
Connor nodded. “Yeah. Let me get a shirt.”
As Connor left, Faith turned and looked at Dawn. “Rain that burns his face?” she said angrily. “Tied to a tree that plants seeds in people’s stomach? He was talking about that place, wasn’t he?!”
“Faith, just wait,” Lorne said.
Faith paid no attention to Lorne and continued yelling at Dawn. “You hypnotized him so he’d think he was back in that place! Why? Why would you do that?”
“So he could cope with what happened there!” Dawn yelled back. “That’s Willow’s therapy for Connor and Dana,” Dawn explained in a calmer voice. “Hypnotize them, take them back to where the trauma happened. Then imagine themselves as they are today going and rescuing themselves as they were then. It gives them a fantasy of escape as a child and a feeling of power as an adult.”
Faith looked behind her to see Connor staring at her with a smirk on his face. “I knew you watched,” he said with a slight grin. Faith smiled back. His mood had mellowed in the minute since he snapped out of the trance. His voice was joking, like a boy telling his older sister how she hadn’t fooled him.
“Someone’s gotta look out for you,” Faith said wryly. “Last time I let you look after yourself, you went and got your chest torn open.”
“Yes, actually that’s a brilliant deduction,” Giles spoke into a cell phone as he came into the hotel. “But we needn’t discuss it on the phone, since I’m standing just ten feet from you.” Giles hung up.
Xander hung up the phone at the front desk.
“Gretchen, Dawn,” Giles said. “I’m going to need you for a spell.”
Dawn looked up. “By spell, do you mean magic or a period of time?”
“Both actually,” Giles answered. “Xander’s developed a rather cunning theory. I don’t believe I just said that.”
“I created and executed an excellent plan once,” Gretchen called. “So these things happen.”
“Xander believes,” Giles pushed on, ignoring the interruptions, “that du Plessis has gained control of the smaller Bezoar parasites merely by gaining control of the Mother Bezoar.”
Xander smiled. “Meaning all we need to do to find du Plessis is to find Mama B.”
“I was telling!” Giles shouted. He glanced around at the crew’s surprised faces. “Um, yes. Sorry.”
“Well that’s just peachy,” Faith said. “But did we get any word from Buffy or Riley on what’s up with the Slayer Council imitating Al Qaeda?”
Xander nodded. “Buffy’s sending Riley to look at the site and see if they can find any clues.”
“So you’re saying the Council didn’t bomb Wolfram & Hart,” Faith said.
“And Riley doesn’t know of the Initiative opening shop again,” Xander added.
“What about the Markovics?” Dawn offered. “They use bombs.”
“They’re evil,” Connor said. “Why would they bomb their own?”
“I’m not sure the Markovics would see Wolfram & Hart as their own,” Giles said. “They’re mercenaries, which means the motive would likely be money. But who else would hire the Markovics to attack Wolfram & Hart?”
“Maybe I should go slap Eve around until she tells us,” Faith said, looking at Lorne. “She still in the cellar?”
“I could just have her sing,” Lorne offered.
“Smacking her around’s more fun.”
“What about the Risen One?” Dawn asked. “He’s the one that hired the Markovics before?”
“I took care of him,” Faith said ruefully. “He won’t be bothering us again.”
“Interrogating Eve is a good idea,” Dawn said. “But in the end, I think the answers to all our questions will probably be in the same place. If Spike and Dru are alive, Dru is our best bet to find Spike. If Dru is alive, she’ll be with du Plessis. If anyone knows who else is on Wolfram & Hart’s enemy list, du Plessis will know.”
“So we’re looking for du Plessis after all,” Faith said. “Alright, I can dig it. You’re a damn good watcher, you know that?”
“Yeah,” Dawn said. “But I don’t like to brag.”
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